Red Bay may drop speeds in subdivisions

By Staff
Melissa Cason
Franklin County Times
RED BAY- The Red Bay City Council voted Monday night to drop the speed limit 10 miles per hour in the city's subdivisions.
The new ordinance will lower the speed limit to 25 miles per hour in all the city's subdivisions. The council is expected to vote on the ordinance at the next regular meeting.
The measure comes after months of debate. Police Chief Pat Creel asked the council to consider lowering them because his department had been getting a lot of complaints about speeders.
"The speed limit is 35 miles per hour," Creel said. "Some drivers are pushing that to 40 and it's just too fast in subdivisions."
Creel told the council in September that it is difficult for his department to enforce the limits at 35 miles per hour because drivers routinely drive at 40 miles per hour in those areas.
Most drivers are granted a grace of a few extra miles per hours, which made targeting those not driving exactly 35 difficult.
"If we start writing tickets to drivers going 40 miles per hour when the limit was 35, city hall, the police department and the council members will be flooded with phone calls complaining that they got a ticket for going only five miles over the limit," Creel said.
In other business, the council voted to: